News · Learn · November 7, 2026
How to check that your files are really kept
A node that stores your data can be asked to prove it, at random, in 14 ms. Here is how storage proofs work and what the testnet shows.
DRIVE 369 DAO
Most storage works on trust: you upload a file and believe the provider still has it. A storage network cannot ask for that trust, because the nodes are strangers. Ghostdrive asks each node to prove it holds your data, and pays it only when it does.
The nodes cannot read your files
Before anything leaves your device, it is cut into blocks and sealed with keys that never leave you. A node holds sealed blocks and learns nothing about what they contain. That is why a stranger can keep your data at all.
How a proof works
- Your file's blocks are arranged in a tree and the tree's root is recorded in a storage deal on the chain.
- Each epoch, a public random beacon (drand) picks random 1 KiB segments of the data. No one, including the node, knows the choice in advance.
- The node answers with those segments and a Merkle proof for each. Only a node that still holds the data can answer.
- The contract checks the proofs against the root. A proven epoch is paid. A missed epoch is not.
- Two missed epochs fail the deal: the rest of the escrow goes back to you and the node loses part of its bond.
What it costs to check
Measured on our benchmark file (100 MB, 102,848 segments):
| Challenges in one epoch proof | 32 |
| Proof size | 50,048 bytes |
| Time to verify | 13.62 ms |
A tiny proof, checked in milliseconds, over a file of a hundred megabytes. Anyone can verify it, not only you.
What the testnet has shown
On 6 November 2026, three storage nodes held sealed data under deals on the Base Sepolia testnet. Over three epochs they answered the random challenges, and the escrow recorded 9 storage receipts. Two independent evaluators then re-read every receipt from the chain before signing the epoch. The full story.
Honest limits
- A storage proof shows that data is held, not that it is quick to restore; speed depends on the layout you choose.
- This runs on a testnet with three nodes run by the maintainers. The contracts are not yet audited, and mainnet is planned for 6 March 2027, after an external audit.
- Testnet DRIVE has no value.